Even healthy eaters often
underestimate the importance of their water
intake and wind up suffering from chronic,
low-grade dehydration. Here are just a few
reasons good hydration is essential to good
health, followed by six tips for staying
hydrated:

Energy:
Suboptimal hydration slows the activity of
enzymes, including those responsible for
producing energy, leading to feelings of
fatigue. Even a slight reduction in hydration
can lower metabolism and reduce your ability to
exercise efficiently.

Digestion:
Our bodies produce an average of 7 liters of
digestive juices daily. When we don’t drink
enough liquid, our secretions are more limited
and the digestive process is inhibited. (Note
that drinking too much water all at once,
particularly with food, can also dilute
digestive juices, reducing their efficacy and
leading to indigestion.)

Regularity:
As partially digested food passes through the
colon, the colon absorbs excess liquid and
transfers it to the bloodstream so that a stool
of normal consistency is formed. When the body
is low on water, it extracts too much liquid
from the stool, which then becomes hard, dry and
difficult to eliminate. Slowed elimination
contributes to bodywide toxicity and
inflammation.

Blood Pressure:
When we are chronically dehydrated, our blood
becomes thicker and more viscous. Additionally,
in response to reduced overall blood volume, the
blood vessels contract. To compensate for the
increased vein-wall tension and increased blood
viscosity, the body must work harder to push
blood through the veins, resulting in elevated
blood pressure.

Stomach Health:
Under normal circumstances, the stomach secretes
a layer of mucus (which is composed of 98
percent water) to prevent its mucus membranes
from being destroyed by the highly acidic
digestive fluid it produces. Chronic
dehydration, though, impedes mucus production
and may irritate and produce ulcers in the
stomach lining.

Respiration:
The moist mucus membranes in the respiratory
region are protective; however, in a state of
chronic dehydration, they dry out and become
vulnerable to attack from substances that might
exist in inhaled air, such as dust and pollen.

Acid-Alkaline Balance:
Dehydration causes enzymatic slowdown,
interrupting important biochemical
transformations, with acidifying results at the
cellular level. The acidification of the body’s
internal cellular environment can be further
worsened when excretory organs responsible for
eliminating acids (e.g., the skin and kidneys)
don’t have enough liquid to do their jobs
properly. An overly acidic biochemical
environment can give rise to a host of
inflammatory health conditions, as well as yeast
and fungus growth.

Weight Management:
Feelings of thirst can be confused with hunger,
both because eating can soothe thirst and also
because dehydration-induced fatigue is often
misinterpreted as a lack of fuel (e.g., sugar).
Both dynamics can lead to false sensations of
hunger, triggering overeating and weight gain.
Inadequate hydration can also promote the
storage of inflammatory toxins, which can also
promote weight gain.

Skin Health: Dehydrated skin loses
elasticity and has a dry, flaky appearance and
texture. But dehydration can also lead to skin
irritation and rashes, including conditions like
eczema. We need to sweat about 24 ounces a day
to properly dilute and transport the toxins
being eliminated through our skin. When we are
chronically dehydrated, the sweat becomes more
concentrated and toxins aren’t removed from our
systems as readily, which can lead to skin
irritation and inflammation.

Cholesterol:
Cholesterol is an essential element in cell
membrane construction. When we are in a state of
chronic dehydration and too much liquid is
removed from within the cell walls, the body
tries to stop the loss by producing more
cholesterol to shore up the cell membrane.
Although the cholesterol protects the cell
membrane from being so permeable, the
overproduction introduces too much cholesterol
into the bloodstream.

Kidney and Urinary
Health: When we
don’t drink enough liquid, our kidneys struggle
to flush water-soluble toxins from our system.
When we don’t adequately dilute the toxins in
our urine, the toxins irritate the urinary mucus
membranes and create a germ- and
infection-friendly environment.

Joint Health:
Dehydrated cartilage and ligaments are more
brittle and prone to damage. Joints can also
become painfully inflamed when irritants,
usually toxins produced by the body and
concentrated in our blood and cellular fluids,
attack them, setting the stage for arthritis.

Aging:
The normal aging process involves a gradual loss
of cell volume and an imbalance of the
extracellular and intracellular fluids. This
loss of cellular water can be accelerated when
we don’t ingest enough liquids, or when our cell
membranes aren’t capable of maintaining a proper
fluid balance.

6 Tips for Staying
Hydrated

Start each day with a
glass of water (no ice). Drink it down
before you have coffee, tea or juice. It
will help replace fluids lost overnight and
get your hydration efforts off to a good
start. Also fill a water bottle you can take
with you in the car, or keep with you and
refill during the workday.

Eat two or three servings
of fruits and vegetables at every meal. They
are brimming with water and include the
minerals that help your body absorb and use
it properly. Keep in mind that most
processed foods (including sugars, flours,
salty snacks and processed meats) result in
a lowering of the body’s water table. Eating
a lot of meat puts pressure on your kidneys
and tends to increase your body’s need for
water.

Establish regular water
breaks, if possible. Tailor your drinking to
meet your needs. For instance, drink an
extra glass of water if you worked out or
didn’t squeeze enough fruits and vegetables
into your day.

Substitute sparkling
water and low-sodium vegetable juice for
soda and fruit juice. While it’s true that
all beverages count toward your daily tally,
the sugar in regular soda and fruit juice,
as well as the chemicals in diet versions,
can trigger a host of unwanted reactions in
the body, including blood-sugar spikes.

Install a Structured
Water unit in your home and use a portable
unit at the office. Resort to bottled water
when you must, but beware of the drawbacks:
It’s expensive and environmentally wasteful,
the plastic contains harmful chemicals that
can leach into the water, and there are no
guarantees that bottled water is any better
for you than the water flowing from the tap.

Cook with high-quality
sea salt. A good, unrefined sea salt is rich
in trace minerals, which are key to cell
health and hydration. Bonus: Sea salt is
also lower in sodium than table salt.

Eight Myths about
Dehydration

Myth No. 1:
Dehydration is relatively rare and occurs only
when the body is deprived of water for days.

Reality:
Low-grade dehydration (versus acute and clinical
dehydration) is a chronic, widespread problem
that has major impacts on well-being, energy,
appearance and resiliency. Christopher Vasey,
ND, a Swiss naturopath and author of The Water
Prescription (Healing Arts Press, 2006),
believes that most people suffer regularly from
this type of chronic dehydration because of poor
eating and drinking habits.

Chronic dehydration can cause
digestive disorders because our bodies need
water to produce the digestive juices that aid
the digestive process. If we don’t get that
water, we don’t secrete enough digestive juices,
and a variety of problems – such as gas,
bloating, nausea, poor digestion and loss of
appetite – can ensue.

Bottom Line:
If you’re not actively focusing on hydrating
throughout the day, there’s a good chance you
could be at least somewhat dehydrated, which
could be negatively affecting your energy,
vitality and immunity – as well as your
appearance. Experiment with drinking more water
throughout the day. You may observe an almost
immediate difference in your well-being, and
even if you don’t, establishing good hydration
habits now will do many good things for your
cellular health over the long haul.

Myth No. 2:
Your body needs eight, 8-ounce glasses of water
daily.

Reality:
Your body does need a steady supply of water to
operate efficiently and perform the many routine
housekeeping tasks that keep you healthy and
energetic.

That said, there is no
scientific evidence to back up the very specific
and well-worn advice that you need to drink
eight, 8-ounce glasses of water a day (a.k.a.
the 8 x 8 rule). In 2002, Heinz Valtin, MD, a
retired physiology professor from Dartmouth
Medical School and author of two textbooks on
kidney function, published the definitive paper
on the subject in the American Journal of
Physiology. He spent 10 months searching medical
literature for scientific evidence of the 8 x 8
rule only to come up empty-handed.

In 2004, the Institute of
Medicine (IOM), a division of the National
Academy of Sciences, actually set the adequate
total-daily-water intake at higher than 64
ounces – 3.7 liters (125 fluid ounces) for men
and 2.7 liters (91 fluid ounces) for women. But
those numbers refer to total water intake,
meaning all beverages and water-containing foods
count toward your daily quota. Fruits and
veggies, for example, pack the most watery
punch, with watermelon and cucumbers topping the
list.

But the “it all counts”
dynamic cuts both ways. Vasey believes that many
people suffer from low-grade, chronic
dehydration because of what they are eating as
well as what they are drinking. The “I don’t
like water” crowd could probably make up their
water deficits by eating the right kinds of
foods, he asserts, “but most don’t eat enough
fruits and vegetables. Instead they eat meat,
cereals and breads, which don’t have much water
and contain a lot of salt.”

Animal proteins require a
great deal more moisture than they contain to
break down, assimilate and then flush from the
body. And many processed foods, such as chips
and crackers, for example, are nearly devoid of
moisture, so – like dry sponges – they soak up
water as they proceed through the digestive
system.

The body requires only 3 to 5
grams of salt a day to stay healthy, but most
people gobble up 12 to 15 grams of the stuff
daily. To rid itself of the overload, the body
requires copious amounts of liquid.

Bottom Line: If you want to stay optimally
healthy, hydrated and energetic, it’s a good
idea to eat plenty of water-containing foods and
drink water throughout the day. And when in
doubt, it’s probably not a bad idea to make a
point of drinking a little more water, rather
than a little less. But that doesn’t mean you
need to down eight glasses exactly, or that if
you run a little shy of 64 ounces, then
something awful is going to happen. Just be
aware that the fewer vegetables, fruits and
legumes you are eating, and the more dried,
processed or chemical-laced foods you include in
your diet, the more water you’ll need to consume
to compensate.

Myth No. 3: When it comes to
hydrating, all beverages are created equal.

Reality: Not so. In principle, the 90 to
125 (or so) ounces recommended by the Institute
of Medicine would include your morning coffee,
the soda you drink with lunch and even a glass
of wine at dinner. Practically speaking,
however, caffeinated, sweetened and alcoholic
drinks pack chemical cargoes (or trigger
chemical reactions) that demand significant
amounts of fluid to properly process and filter.
As a result, nonwater beverages can actually set
you back, water-wise, many experts suggest.
“They can actually dehydrate the body,” says
Haas.

For example, says Vasey,
drinks like coffee, black tea and cocoa are very
high in purines, toxins that must be diluted in
large quantities of water to be flushed from the
body.

Artificially sweetened drinks
add to the body’s toxic burden. Sugar and coffee
also create an acidic environment in the body,
impeding enzyme function and taxing the kidneys,
which must rid the body of excess acid.

Moreover, says Vasey, caffeine
found in coffee, black tea and soft drinks
adversely affects your body’s water stores
because it is a diuretic that elevates blood
pressure, increasing the rate of both the
production and elimination of urine. “The water
in these drinks travels through the body too
quickly,” says Vasey. “Hardly has the water
entered the bloodstream than the kidneys remove
a portion of the liquid and eliminate it, before
the water has time to make its way into the
intracellular environment.” (For more on the
importance of intracellular hydration, see “Myth
No. 5.”)

Bottom Line: Moderate consumption of beverages
like coffee and tea is fine, but be aware that
while some of the fluids in nonwater beverages
may be helping you, certain ingredients may be
siphoning away your body’s water stores. So,
when you’re drinking to hydrate, stick primarily
with water. And, if you’re looking for a
pick-me-up, try sparkling water with a squeeze
of citrus.

Myth No. 4: By the time you get
thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.

Reality:
Again, it depends on what you mean by
“dehydrated.” Experts like Vasey posit that
while those walking around in a state of
subclinical dehydration may not feel thirst,
their bodies are sending other signals of
inadequate hydration – from headaches and
stomachaches to low energy to dry skin.

But when it comes to avoiding
the more widely accepted definition of clinical
dehydration, thirst is a good indicator of when
you need to swig. Here’s the deal: As water
levels in the body drop, the blood gets thicker.
When the concentration of solids in the blood
rises by 2 percent, the thirst mechanism is
triggered. A 1 percent rise in blood solids
could be called “mild dehydration,” but it could
also be considered a normal fluctuation in
bodily fluids.

Either way, feeling thirsty is
a good indicator that you need to get some water
into your body, and soon. Serious symptoms of
dehydration don’t arise until blood solids rise
by 5 percent – long after you feel thirsty. But,
obviously, you don’t want to wait that long.
Even mild, subclinical levels of dehydration
come with sacrifices in optimal vitality,
metabolism and appearance. Like an underwatered
plant, the body can survive on less water than
it wants, but it’s unlikely to thrive.

Bottom Line:
Drinking water only when you’re thirsty may
relegate you to being less than optimally
hydrated much of the time, and it may undermine
your energy and vitality. On the other hand,
constantly sipping or gulping calorie- or
chemical-laden beverages for entertainment is a
bad idea. So if you tend to keep a bottle of
soda on your desk all day, or if you’re never
seen without your coffee cup in hand, rethink
your approach. Get in the habit of drinking a
glass of water first thing in the morning, and a
few more glasses of water throughout the day.
Also drink proactively (especially important
during strenuous exercise, long airplane flights
and in hot weather).

Myth No. 5:
Hydrating is all about water.

Reality:
Nope. It takes a delicate balance of minerals,
electrolytes and essential fatty acids to get
and keep water where it needs to be – properly
hydrating your bloodstream, your tissues and
your cells.

“You can drink lots of water
and still be dehydrated on a cellular level,”
says Haas. Water you drink is absorbed from the
digestive tract into the bloodstream by small
blood vessels (capillaries). Of the water
contained in food and beverages, 95 percent ends
up in the blood. From the blood, water moves
into the fluid surrounding the cells, called
extracellular fluid. That’s important, but it’s
not the end of the line. Water needs to get
inside cells for you to maintain optimal health.

A person’s vitality is
affected by how well his or her body gets water
into and out of cells, says Haas. A variety of
unhealthy lifestyle habits and health conditions
can inhibit this cellular capacity, he notes.
But naturally, too, as the body ages, the water
inside cells (intracellular) tends to diminish,
and water outside cells (extracellular or
interstitial fluid) tends to accumulate. Haas
calls this gradual drying out of cells a
“biomarker of aging.”

Minerals, especially
electrolytes and trace minerals, are essential
to maintaining cellular equilibrium. Minerals
help transport water into the cells, where they
also activate enzymes. And enzymes are the basis
of every biological process in the body, from
digestion to hormone secretion to cognition.
Without minerals, says Haas, enzymes get
sluggish and the body suffers.

Without essential fatty acids
– which form the basis for cellular membranes –
cells can’t properly absorb, hold and stabilize
the water and other nutrients they’re supposed
to contain.

Bottom Line:
Take in plenty of minerals by eating lots of
fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds –
ideally from produce grown according to
biodynamic farming practices, meaning the farmer
is supporting (rather than depleting) nutrients
in the soil. Another way to boost minerals in
the diet is cooking with a high-quality sea
salt. A natural, unrefined sea salt will deliver
up to 60 trace minerals your body needs to
manage water flow. Also, try to include whole
foods that are high in essential fatty acids,
such as walnuts and flax seeds, which are
critical to maintaining healthy cell membranes
that can hold in moisture. And consider a
multimineral supplement that includes an ample
supply of trace minerals in its formulation.

Myth No. 6:
Healthy urine is always clear.

Reality:
Urine color is directly linked to hydration
status because the yellow tint is a measure of
how many solid particles, such as sodium,
chloride, nitrogen and potassium, are excreted.
The color’s intensity depends on how much water
the kidneys mix with the solids. Less water
equals darker urine. More water equals lighter
urine. Dark or rank-smelling urine are signs
your body may need more water. But
light-to-medium yellow urine is fine. Very clear
urine may actually be a signal that your kidneys
are taxed by the amount of fluid moving through
them and the minerals in your body are being too
diluted.

Also note that some vitamins,
such as riboflavin, or B2, can turn urine bright
yellow, so don’t be alarmed if your urine is a
funny color after either swallowing a
multivitamin or eating certain foods, like
nutritional yeast, which is high in B vitamins.

Bottom Line:
Drink enough water to make light yellow
(lemonade-colored) urine. The volume depends on
your activity level and metabolism. If your
urine is cloudy or dark or foul smelling,
increase your water intake and monitor changes.
If you don’t see a positive change, consult a
health professional.

Myth No. 7:
Drinking too much water leads to water
retention.

Reality:
The body retains water in response to
biochemical and hormonal imbalances, toxicity,
poor cardiovascular and cellular health – and,
interestingly, dehydration. “If you’re not
drinking enough liquid, your body may actually
retain water to compensate,” says Vasey, adding
that a general lack of energy is the most common
symptom of this type of water retention.
“Paradoxically, you can sometimes eliminate
fluid retention by drinking more water, not
less, because if you ingest enough water, the
kidneys do not try and retain water by cutting
back on elimination,” he explains.

Bottom Line:
No good comes of drinking less water than you
need. If you have water-retention problems, seek
professional counsel to help you identify the
root cause (food intolerances, for example, are
a common culprit in otherwise healthy people).
Do not depend on diuretics or water avoidance to
solve your problems, since both strategies will
tend to make the underlying healthy challenges
worse, not better.

Myth No. 8:
You can’t drink too much water.

Reality:
Under normal conditions, the body flushes the
water it doesn’t need. But it is possible –
generally under extreme conditions when you are
drinking more than 12 liters in 24 hours or
exercising heavily – to disrupt the body’s
osmotic balance by diluting and flushing too
much sodium, an electrolyte that helps balance
the pressure of fluids inside and outside of
cells. That means cells bloat from the influx
and may even burst.

While the condition, called
hyponatremia, is rare, it happens. Long-distance
runners are at highest risk for acute
hyponatremia (meaning the imbalance happens in
less than 48 hours), but anyone can get in
trouble if they drink water to excess without
replacing essential electrolytes and minerals.
Extreme overconsumption of water can also strain
the kidneys and, if drunk with meals, interfere
with proper digestion.

Chronic hyponatremia, meaning
sodium levels gradually taper off over days or
weeks, is less dangerous because the brain can
gradually adjust to the deficit, but the
condition should still be treated by a doctor.
Chronic hyponatremia is often seen in adults
with illnesses that leach sodium from the body,
such as kidney disease and congestive heart
failure. But even a bad case of diarrhea,
especially in children, can set the stage for
hyponatremia. Be on the lookout for symptoms
such as headache, confusion, lethargy and
appetite loss.

Bottom Line:
Never force yourself to drink past a feeling of
fullness. If you are drinking copious amounts of
water and still experiencing frequent thirst,
seek help from a health professional. If you’re
drinking lots of fluids to fuel an exercise
regimen that lasts longer than one hour, be sure
to accompany your water with adequate salts and
electrolytes. For information on wise
fitness-hydration strategies, read “How to
Hydrate” in our December 2007 archives at
experiencelifemag.com.

Vasey hopes that
health-motivated people will return to the
simple pleasures of water in much the same way
they’ve recently rediscovered the myriad
benefits of whole foods over heavily processed
and aggressively marketed industrial fare.
“Nature gave us water, not soft drinks,” he
says. “It’s time to get back to basics.”